A Trip Down The Aisle
by dragonfly360
Summary: A little look into one very important day. Fluff, mayhem and poker. As well as some lacy black underwear. A Trip Down Memory Lane one-shot. Post-epilogue. HitsuOC


Don't thank me, thank _Tora Lynn_. She made me do it (by the way, sorry for the total absence on ffn for _months_. May this help you forgive me!). I hope you like this amalgam of little inter-related scenes ;) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: mine not. Own no I. Whatever.

oOo

"I can't believe you're getting _married_."

"I can," I replied neutrally, smiling to myself.

"Yes, well, if you couldn't, that would be kind of worrying, Mitsuki."

I didn't have anything to say to that, so I simply resumed drifting my fingers across the surface of my engagement ring. The smooth facets of the ice-blue diamond were going to be worn down pretty soon; I hadn't been able to stop marvelling at it since I had been given it six months ago. I could still envision Tōshirō's relieved and utterly charming smile as he realised how much I adored his choice, and way the cool white gold band had felt slipping over my knuckles.

Tsubaki ran a hand through her perfectly straight and silky hair, staring at me in the mirror. Noticing me watching her, she relaxed into a smile I could tell wasn't forced. She laid a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm happy for you."

I knew she was. And I was happy for her and Byakuya, too.

She drew me back to her with a sigh. "I'm not all you have now. What a shame!"

I laughed with her, though we both also knew perfectly well that we had been depending on others outside our little pair for quite some time. I opened my mouth to make a witty reply, but she just shook her head at me with a wry little grin twisting her lips.

"Now go and take a shower, you! Time is of the essence in the most awaited ceremony of the decade."

I stared glumly at the lacquered wood under my arms, remembering all too clearly how many people wanted a piece of _my_ wedding day. I shook my head, today was a good day. Today I wasn't going to be anything other than ecstatic. I mean, I was finally getting married. Finally! I carefully removed my ring and then stood, making my way into the luxurious en-suite bathroom. I paused and turned at the abrupt breakout of hysterical giggles behind me. What I saw was my best friend, standing over the now-opened suitcase I had packed for my honeymoon, holding a very scanty set of black lace underwear. She bit her lip as she looked at me, face and body trembling as she struggled to contain her laughter.

I put my face in my hands before she even said anything. I knew going and buying that without her was a terrible, terrible mistake.

"Oh, oh my! I never knew that Captain Hitsugaya had such fine tastes!"

I groaned into my palms, trying to mask how I was laughing under my breath.

"Don't worry, Mitsuki dearest, I'll just put this back in your suitcase..."

Letting out a relieved, audible breath, I assumed she had finished teasing before she even started. Then I lifted my head and saw that she had the most devilish look in her eyes. I hid again and then turned and hurried into the bathroom, but not before I heard her parting words:

"Well _somebody's_ going to enjoy their honeymoon!"

She then proceeded to sing a few bars of "Sex Bomb".

"Shut up, Tsubaki!" I said, but without any real heat. She just laughed at me again.

"Honestly, I don't know how I still manage to embarrass you. It isn't like I haven't walked in on you and little Hitsy, uh, _practicing_ for said honeymoon."

I wondered yet again whether there was an incantation to erase memories. It would be really nice if she just forgot that _ever_ happened.

"And you still haven't told me if he's any good! Though, I guess he is, looking at the lengths you go too to please him."

I stuck my head out of the bathroom.

"Tsubaki, that sounds so incredibly dirty, I'm not even going to reply."

She gave me a razor-sharp grin. "Whatever, Ms. I want to wear white to my wedding."

"It looks good with my skin tone," I defended waspishly.

We held our gaze for a few seconds before we both broke into giggles.

Rukia came rushing in. She gaped at me, horrified. "Mitsuki, get in that shower _now_! You need to be out of it in twenty minutes, _maximum_. And stop laughing!" I tried, and failed. I think the adrenaline was getting to me.

"Seriously, what is going on here?"

I covered my mouth, and escaped as Tsubaki was left behind to be interrogated.

oOo

I wasn't one for standing there shocked, mouth open, looking like a fish out of water, but sometimes the occasion called for it.

"What do you mean, you've _lost_ them?"

"Well, you know, I had them, and then I realised when I checked my waistcoat pocket that they weren't there so... so I started to look for them and I couldn't..."

I held up a hand for the end to the dribbling as I used the other to rub my forehead in frustration and anxiety.

"Renji, you find them and you find them _now_. I'm getting married in two hour's time. I am not pleased."

I hadn't meant to start talking like I was a Captain and he of inferior rank, instead of a groom and his best man, but seeing Renji —_Renij_— cower and scuttle away, mumbling an ashamed apology, made me feel that at least he knew how monumentally he had cocked-up.

I sighed and prepared to tell my bride. I mentally braced myself as I strode across the room to open the door, closing it behind me before starting and down the corridor until I reached the other end. I tapped my knuckles against the frame of her closed door. I started to sweat the tiniest bit as I wondered who was going to be in more pain; Renji, for losing our wedding rings, or me, for trusting the red-haired moron with something so important (and essential for the wedding) in the first place.

"Mitsuki, I need to tell you something. Unless you hold to the tradition of the groom not seeing his bride before the ceremony..."

A few seconds of silence, rustling fabric and the murmur of voices, and then I heard Mitsuki's voice, raised with some emotion. Ah, irritation. Perfect.

"...don't be stupid! Go on, leave the bloody room."

Another few seconds, and then I heard the hiss of an exaggerated, loud sigh.

"Oh, the whole point is for him not to see _me_! Just leave through the door if you don't want to huddle in the loo together... And stop fussing with that, Matsumoto, it looks fine!"

I controlled my smile before the six bridesmaids – already dressed in their slight variations of knee-length pale green dresses – started stalking out of the door, some with their heads held high, Matsumoto grinning and Tsubaki with the smirk I was now used to. She looked at me and laughed.

"I bet it's bad news. I bet you're about to be castrated."

I shrugged and looked pretty unconcerned. I had a feeling that Renji might be castrated instead, but maybe that was wishful thinking.

Tsubaki laughed again and let me push open the door, and I spotted Mitsuki with her back to me, sitting at her vanity complete with too many mirrors. She was dressed in a towel, hair looking slightly damp. I tried to ignore her bare shoulders and legs and smiled instead as I shut the door behind me.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we?"

I saw her lips quirk as she fiddled with a hair accessory before pushing it away. I eyed her closely. She looked... different. There was an expression on her face I'd never seen before; it was almost rueful, but also excited in a contained way. She looked like she might be about to smile or cry at any moment, like emotion was waiting to pounce and take her over.

"The dress isn't one of those old-fashioned affairs; it'll only take ten minutes to put on and do last minute adjustments. It's the hair and make-up that'll take a while, but seeing as we're having the ceremony here I can afford to grant you some of my precious time."

She grinned at me cheekily, and I had a distinct feeling that she knew exactly what she was doing when she flipped her hair back and over one shoulder. I mock glared as I stepped closer and took her hand resting on the vanity counter, running my thumb over her wrist as I considered how to word this.

She hadn't taken her eyes off my reflection since coming in the room, and now she turned to look at me. I could feel the question _all right, what's going on? _ I finally met her gaze.

"The best man might have misplaced our rings."

Mitsuki's eyes widened for a few seconds as she held still, and then she groaned and leaned her head against my arm, conveniently positioned. I huffed a half laugh, half sigh as she carried on groaning.

"Renji, for the love of god..."

She turned to place her head on the vanity, cushioned by her arms, pulling the towel wrapped around her even lower. I narrowed my eyes.

"All right, enough with the _I'm going to torture my fiancé _plan. But don't you worry, I'll have plenty of time for revenge later..."

The honeymoon was unofficial, but both of us were getting two weeks off work in order to spend time together, with a trip to the human world to spend the first week in Australia. I leant forward and placed my elbows on either side of hers, brushing my lips across her bare neck, placing a single light kiss behind her jaw. I was close enough to feel her shiver, and I knew it wasn't the cold. I smirked; comeuppance part one, complete. I abruptly moved away and spoke as I turned to return to my own dressing room.

"Renji's already looking for them, so unless I report again we can assume all is well."

I glanced over my shoulder to see that she'd raised her head and was looking at me heatedly in the mirror. I couldn't help it; I laughed.

"Try not to do that face at the altar. It might scare off the guests."

I was still chuckling lowly when I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. I raised my head and came face to face with twelve eyes locked on me, watching me with interest. I smirked at them slightly.

"Ladies, she's _all_ yours."

I gestured behind me into the room, where Mitsuki probably still had her moody face on. Orihime and Matumoto closed in on me and made a lot of joyful noises about me getting married. I was finally allowed to escape, being pushed down the corridor as Orihime assured me that they would have my_ beautiful bride looking radiant in time for the wedding!_

I returned to the much calmer ambience of the male dressing room and found Ichigo and Uryū playing poker, with Kon hanging around giving some bad advice. I raised an eyebrow.

"When did you lot get back from inspecting the groom's cake?"

"Just a second ago. We decided we didn't have anything to do while the women curled their hair."

Uryū shrugged nonchalantly and dealt the river, causing Ichigo to squawk indignantly as he realised that his three of a kind was being beaten by a flush a moment later. He accused the other man of cheating, though everyone in the room knew that Ichigo was actually just bad with the statistics of poker, and the Ishida very good with numbers.

"Anyone seen Renji?"

They didn't turn to look at me but Ichigo replied casually: "Yeah, he came in a second ago to ask us where his spare waistcoat was, and we told him that he'd left it back home, and we think he then had some sort of brain problem because he went purple and then he ran out again."

I carefully placed a hand on my forehead and let out a deep sigh. We were currently located on the other side of Seretei from where Renji lived. I imagined closing my hands around his neck and shaking him for leaving my wedding rings the best part of an hour away from where we were getting married and realising two hours before the ceremony.

"He hasn't done anything stupid, has he?"

I let out another sigh. "Let us hope not."

I rubbed the tick in my eye and then pulled out the remaining chair at the small table, dropping onto it as I told Uryū to deal me in. Both men looked at each other with some apprehension, and I chuckled under my breath.

"If you don't let me humiliate you privately I'll do it publicly later."

"Yeah, sure, I bet you don't even know how to play," Ichigo attempted to sneer.

_The only person who managed to beat me is your sister... And she wipes the floor with you, Ichi-nii, _I thought dryly.

"I bet you one month's captain's wages," I said. I'd already blown Kami knew how much money, what did a little more matter... And I was going to demolish him anyway.

"You're on!" Ichigo was fired up immediately at the challenge. I rested my head on my hand and looked at the redhead, wondering how on Earth he had managed to save the world. Someone could have just manipulated him into running headfirst into a brick wall for the rest of his life instead, which was a slightly less stressful and far more entertaining affair.

"Don't give me the ice face; it does funny things to my spine."

I blinked slowly. _What. _I raised one eyebrow and lowered the other at the bright-haired man.

"This _is_ my face," I said, drawling.

Ichigo did a more masculine version of Matsumoto pursing her lips and turned away to peek at his hand. I shook my head a little and looked at Uryū questioningly, jerking my head slightly in Ichigo's direction. I received a downturn of the corner's of his mouth and a hand raised palm-up to indicate _hell if I know_. I shrugged and began the amusingly easy process of infuriating a Kurosaki.

oOo

Approximately eighty-two minutes later, the door crashed open and a red-headed Abarai Renji stumbled into the room, collapsing until he was lying on the ground. He raised his fist and opened it carefully to show me the two white gold rings resting on his sweaty palm. I considered him for a second before standing and collecting them, wondering why he hadn't raised his face from the carpet. Then he did and a startled silence settled over the room as Ichigo and Uryū stopped playing.

"Dude, what happened to your face?"

"I had a disagreement."

"With what, a _wall_?"

Renji didn't even bother to react as Ichigo started guffawing at his own joke and Uryū chuckled. It was true: there was a suspicious dark shadow covering at least half his face.

"No, your wife."

There was a second of quiet as Ichigo stared at Renji, and then he was laughing again so hard he was falling off his chair.

"Shut up. Apparently losing the wedding rings is worse than insulting her drawing skills," Renji muttered as he slowly raised himself from the ground. I stepped forward again and offered him a hand, pausing as I eyed him critically. I tried not to gag as I inhaled.

"Did you run all the way there and back?"

Renji nodded silently, rubbing an elbow he'd banged on his trip to the floor. He glanced up after a few seconds, face asking me why I was silent. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you stink. Go and have a shower and then put on your spare suit."

The man in front of me froze, an awkward and nervous smile sticking on his face. I realised then what he'd done, and put my head in my hands. Ichigo was still laughing in the background.

"You didn't bother to bring back your spare suit, did you?"

Renji had started inching away from me, and now he started to back away, hands raised in surrender. Or, it was a plea, but I didn't really care about that right now.

"Not really..."

"You... are an idiot," I confirmed as I lamented the fact that Mitsuki had forbidden any weapons of any kind near the venue. Renji laughed shakily as Ichigo roared with increasing hilarity and Uryū offhandedly sneaked a look at his hand, forgotten on the table. He chanced a look at me, and then thought the better of trying to peek at mine.

"Oh my God ...I think lack of air is going to kill me!"

Ichigo screamed behind me, voice high as he struggled to hold off the laughter even for those few seconds.

"_What_ is going on here? You are _damaging our calm_."

Rukia appeared in the doorway, and Renji instinctively shied away from her and edged towards me again, so that he could step thought the door and slide along the wall. The woman with the furious expression on her face was staring at her husband accusingly as the carrot-top tried to get a hold of himself. He grabbed the edge of the table and I worried that he was going to pull the whole thing over, he was shaking so much. I gripped his shirt front and heaved him up, watching him steady himself as he wiped the corner of his eyes.

"It's okay... Okay. I'm okay now," Ichigo reassured us, like we cared.

Rukia raised a fist, and I noticed that it was slightly pink, like she had punched someone with quite a lot of... force. Renji abruptly seemed to rediscover his masculinity as he stood straighter and started walking towards the abandoned poker game.

"You _will_ keep it down in here. Orihime heard you shrieking and nearly poked Mitsuki's eye out with her brush. Absolute silence from now on!" Rukia finished angrily, glaring around the room at each of us in turn, her husband receiving an especially threatening look. She paused, and then wrinkled her nose. "And what is that God-awful stench? You men need to learn how to wash yourselves!" She turned smartly with her head held high and closed the door behind her.

Left inside the room, the four of us shared looks and shrugged. I glanced at the clock.

_Just over half an hour to go._

I felt a bubble of excitement in my chest as I smiled unconsciously. Then I turned and saw the other men sitting down once more to play poker. I decided to anger the Gods and watch all hell break loose.

"Renji, ask around and see if one of the others has something to lend you and try and find Hanatarō to see if he can get rid of that bruise... and by the way, Ichigo, Uryū looked at your hand."

oOo

"What was all that ruckus about earlier, anyway?"

Mitsuki asked me as she sipped her rather expensive champagne. I swirled my own in my glass absently as I looked over the view. It was after-party time, and now the dinner and cake had all been devoured and the embarrassing speeches had passed, as well as our first dance as spouses, and we had decided to snatch a (rare) private moment of peace on the balcony.

I shrugged at my wife's question, glancing at her as I thought the word, smiling inwardly.

"Oh, Ichigo found it hilarious that Rukia had beaten up Renji."

"Hmm," she considered. "I suppose he would. And after that? When you wrecked the room?"

I shrugged again.

"We'd been playing poker and then Ichigo went all Bankai on Uryū for looking at his hand while he was rolling around on the floor."

A slight exaggeration, as it had in fact it had been Rukia and Tsubaki returning to teach us a lesson that had mainly decimated the tasteful pastel furniture, but nobody wanted to say that to their faces. That or how they had in fact made more noise than we ever had.

Mitsuki laughed, shaking her head.

"Honestly, you men. It's a wonder I ever married one of you," She said, looking at me sideways as she smiled around the rim of her glass.

I cracked a small lopsided grin and pulled her close to my side, curling my arm around her shoulders protectively.

"You know that you simply adore me, truly."

There was a time when I would never have said this. There was a time when I would have felt immature, childish, foolish – but I had been those things back then. Ironically, I saw that now. Perhaps it was having Mitsuki kidnapped, or comforting her as she cried uncontrollably in her sleep, or seeing that sad smile whenever she thought about someone long gone, but I had passed through another mental growth spurt.

Mitsuki giggled and leaned her head back against me, placing her drink down on the wide balcony railing. Every carefree and spontaneous sign of joy is something you begin to cherish when you've both been to hell and back.

"Oi! Lovebirds! Come and join your own party, would you?" Somebody shouted behind us, I suspected a drunk Kenpachi, but they were studiously ignored in any case.

Mitsuki sighed happily against me.

"I'm officially a married woman."

"You were an unofficially married woman?" I asked.

She nodded, voice serious as she replied: "Oh yes, I was married to my paperwork."

It took a moment for me to realise that she'd made her voice deeper and huskier. I raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't see it.

"Well I'm a polygamist then... But don't worry, you're my favourite spouse," I reassured her, bending my head to press a kiss into her hair, feeling her laugh against me, shaking me. She turned towards me then and laced her hands behind my neck, smiling up at me. She lent up for a quick kiss as I moved my hold to around her waist, somewhere in the back of mind still hazily surprised that this intimacy was so simple now. Easy. She leaned into me comfortably, head fitting just under my chin. Simple.

It sounded ridiculous even in my own mind, thinking that we were pieces of a puzzle, which was probably why that was one of the things I _didn't_ say out loud.

"Come on," She said after a minute. "Let's go back inside. I'm getting a bit chilly in this strapless dress."

She did look pretty stunning in the sheer white number. It was exactly what I'd imagined she'd pick: fairly simple with a few glitzy details here and there. Very elegant and flattering, the sort of thing that as you continued to look at it you saw more and more to it, more detail, more beauty. It suited her.

I readjusted my hold as she turned, and as we walked across the balcony, she glanced up at me, almost shyly. I raised an eyebrow. Bashful wasn't a side I'd seen in Mitsuki in a long time... it was much more like the self-conscious young girl I had still managed to fall for, though I knew now that she had been a shadow of the real thing. Thankfully the real thing had been much more to my liking, though she clearly still retained some of the endearing human aspects—she couldn't help it, the influences were with her always, especially of Eva.

"Yes, Eva?"

I stumbled mentally a second later. It was so unusual of me to misspeak, to fumble and say what I had been thinking instead of what I wanted to say. A crease appeared in my forehead at this slip-up, but my newly-wed other half merely went a little pink and chuckled, squeezing me.

I blinked when I realised she had taken it as entirely intentional; an affectionate, intimate name that I was sure only I would be able to say.

"Well, I was just thinking about something someone mentioned earlier..."

If it was something that caused Mitsuki so blush so readily, it was undoubtedly Tsubaki. That woman...

"And?" I prompted, curiosity even more piqued when I realised she was stalling for time before we crossed the threshold.

"About... about the honeymoon..." And with that last word, all became clear. I laughed freely, tilting my head back, even as she poked me in the ribs. I knew she was attempting to pout but right now I was too busy laughing.

"What's so funny, _husband_?" She inquired obstinately; face acquiring a grumpy edge in my peripheral vision. I calmed myself down and ran the back of my hand over her warm cheek. I let myself chuckle once more.

"You are. You're funny. So..." _Virginal, pure, innocent... _Though none of those terms hardly applied to her, which is why it was slightly bizarre and wholly endearing for talk of sex to still make her go red, and with her best friend and husband no less. "So... cute," I finished with eventually, and another amused sound escaped me unintentionally when I thought _she shouldn't be wearing a white dress, its plain deceptive. _I had joked about this slightly once, before I had realised fully that what the woman wants, the woman gets... especially when it came to weddings. And most especially her own.

I heard a small embarrassed huff as Mitsuki realized I was well aware as to what she was talking about and that I was laughing at her for it.

I abruptly changed the topic. "Have you even thrown your bouquet yet?"

She rolled her eyes at me, but her voice was as amused as mine was. "Of course I have. I guess that shows how much more the women cared."

"Who caught it?" It should have been Tsubaki. But I doubted she had and I was sure there was some rule or exception or another that explained this away. Women and their fantasies.

"You don't care anyway, but it was your lieutenant. And why the question?"

I was struck for a second how horrifying Matsumoto would be telling me personal details of her new guy for a second, before I remembered why I had actually asked and turned Mitsuki towards me, uncharacteristically grinning down at her intentionally.

"Pray tell, what that other ritual do you have to do related to that...? Something about the groom chucking something into the crowd... But I can't remember. Care to enlighten me?"

Mitsuki groaned like she did minutes ago and hid her face again, and I knew she was red.

"Tōshirō! Enough with the teasing, I'm half tomato already. Let's just finish this and then get started on the, eh, 'interesting' part."

"Only if you promise not to kiss and tell," I said quietly as we finally entered the boisterous and warm atmosphere of our wedding party.

I caught Mitsuki's mischievous, twinkling eye.

"Too late!"

For a second I was stunned into silence and inactivity, and then I just shook my head and sent her a mockingly reproachful look. _Now I'm never going to be able to meet another woman's eye again._

Her answering smile said: _revenge_. And then she blinked and said:

"I left my glass outside."

oOo

Little Karin reference there, simply because she does seem like the kind of girl who plays poker to me haha. And also a _Serenity_ reference! I love that line xD

P.S: The dress description was based/inspired on Maggie Sottero's dress _Kadence_, though of course in white and not the silver you get in the first image when you google it. Isn't it pretty? _Teagan_ almost won out, but I wanted Mitsuki in a strapless dress. And as you know—what the woman wants, she gets.

I hope you all enjoyed!


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